Here are a few ideas to paint this month. The evenings are lovely and light now so even if you’ve had a busy day do sit down late afternoon or early evening and get drawing or painting. There’s quite a variety so you have plenty of subjects to choose from. Send all your photos to Tracy by email, text, WhatsApp or Messenger by the end of the month.

APRIL

The Romans called this month Aprilis and the word April comes from the verb ‘aperire’ which means ‘to open’. Many things open this month…

• flowers in the wild and in your garden
• blossom on trees
• David Hockney’s exhibition ‘The Arrival of Spring – Normandy 2020’ is due to open soon at the Royal Academy. Look at www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/david-hockney and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see his artwork.
• umbrellas – paint several umbrellas open in a pattern or do a wet-in-wet rainy background and paint a person walking with an umbrella
• eggs of birds hatching
• pubs are due open this month too, so draw or paint a favourite pub
• April is dedicated to the goddess Venus so create an image of her

GREECE

Greece has just celebrated the 200th anniversary of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Many members have holidayed somewhere in Greece so use any photos or memories to create a picture.
Draw or paint…

• one of the many islands
• boats or views of the sea, the Mediterranean, Aegean or Ionian Seas
• people – holidaymakers or locals
• animals
• buildings
• famous landmarks
• Greek gods, goddesses or legends

PAOTM

• Murray Walker – he recently died but was a well known personality, motorsport commentator and journalist for decades in newspapers and on tv.
• Maya Angelou – the American poet, memoirist and civil rights activist she had an April birthday. Paint her portrait and add one of her many quotes to her portrait.